


Sunset on New Denmark

by Lexigent



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 13:30:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4707692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexigent/pseuds/Lexigent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee Scoresby and Hester have some holiday on their hands. They travel to Texas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunset on New Denmark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Deepdarkwaters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deepdarkwaters/gifts).



When he told people that he came from Texas, Lee knew most people pictured a brown, desert landscape with no human habitation for miles around; a harsh, inhospitable place where no one would willingly go to live, and when he told them he was an aeronaut, they nodded knowingly, as if to say, “well, of course you picked an occupation that would get you away from that place as quickly as possible.”  
It was true that Texas was a desert, for the most part, but it was also true that the human spirit thrived in places harsher than this – Lee knew now, having been all over the world with his balloon.  
Now, it was springtime, and Lee had just earned enough coin to afford not working for a few weeks, and so he had packed up his daemon, his balloon and what earthly goods he could reasonably fit into the balloon’s car, and made for home.

Hester had been eyeing the horizon for hours, but now she was lying in a corner of the car, heart heavy with feelings neither Lee nor herself could fully express. The sun was quite far in the west already, and Lee reckoned that if the winds kept steady, they would touch down on New Denmark soil – Texas soil – in about half an hour. He had been all over the world, but he had not been home for five years since he’d won the balloon and the half-copy of _The Elements of Aerial Navigation_.

He lowered their flight height consistently, being mindful of the winds and the distance to the ground. He didn’t mind so much where exactly they came down. He could make camp anywhere.  
Half an hour later, the balloon’s car touched the ground and came down heavily. Hester, shaken by the impact, left her place in the corner of the car. She scrambled upwards to see where Lee had brought them to a halt. Lee was looking out over the landscape, but didn’t speak.

“Lee?” she inquired – and was immediately silenced herself by what she saw.

There was a field of bluebonnets in front of them, bright royal blue bathed in the orange evening sunlight.

“Breathtaking, ain’t it, Hester,” Lee said, and all Hester could do was nod.

They made camp nearby, on a dry patch of land, and Lee cooked a meal over the camp fire. They did not speak much. There was nothing to say that the other didn’t already understand in their heart.  
Lee settled down and watched the landscape afterwards while Hester lapped water from his flask.

“Missed seeing those,” he said and pointed at a pair of flycatchers perching on the desert grass. “That shade of vermillion is one of a kind.” His eyes seemed to drift on the horizon, taking in the flowers, the birds, the colours of his native country.

Hester stopped drinking and crawled into his lap, snuggling close for warmth.

“Do you ever wonder what would have happened if I’d settled different?”

Lee looked at her with puzzlement.

“Reckon everyone wonders that sometimes.”

He sighed. Hester’s settling had been a bit most unusual than that of the daemons of his playmates. But then, he’d been the one who’d found a young jackrabbit one morning while he was roaming the plains, Hester behind him changing from a bird to a mountain lion to a porcupine.

Someone must have left the wire and twine outside, or else the jackrabbit would not have been caught in it. It wasn’t a deliberate trap – Lee knew how to set those, and knew that someone would have already been by, had it been so.

He’d seen the creature flailing about, trying to free its limbs helplessly, and injuring itself on the sharp wire with every movement it made.  
It had made him sick at first, and then angry, and then he’d stepped down and reached out to touch the tangled creature. She’d bit his hand first time around, but he was determined. Slowly but surely, he coaxed her to accepting it.

“I ain’t gonna hurt you,” he said in a soothing voice and reached out again. “I’ll help you.”

He continued talking in this way and there must have been something in his voice that made the frightened rabbit calm down. Or maybe it had finally exhausted itself trying to strain against its bonds.  
Lee lost track of time unpicking the twine and wire. He had no tools and he was too afraid that the rabbit would injure itself again to carry it far.  
Halfway through, he’d become aware of a warm presence by his elbow and turned his head.

Hester had changed to a jackrabbit in sympathy. He ran his hands through her fur briefly, then continued to free the real rabbit.  
As soon as the last piece of twine was untied, the rabbit limped away. Lee felt a keen sense of loss and hoped she’d be okay, but he knew that jackrabbits were tough creatures.  
He didn’t have a timepiece in those days, but by the sun he could tell that it was probably time to make for home to get dinner, so he did. It was only that night, when he and Hester settled into bed to sleep, that he realised that she hadn’t changed since he’d freed that jackrabbit.  
“You hain’t changed all night, Hester,” he said.

“I won’t anymore,” she’d confirmed.

And that had been that.

Lee cradled her to his chest now, his hands lost deep in her fur. Of course, given his recent choice of occupation, he sometimes thought about what it would be like to have a bird-daemon who could soar through the air with him. But the truth of the matter was that there was something about Hester’s form which kept him tied to the ground, and to Texas, and without this, he might easily become unmoored on the winds.  
“You keep me grounded, Hester,” he murmured as they both drifted off to sleep, and her soft squeal in reaction told him all he needed to know.


End file.
